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President of Russian Railways meets Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Construction

The President of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov held a meeting with Abbas Akhundi,
Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Construction, at the Company’s headquarters.

Part of the talks covered cooperation between the railways of Russia and Iran.

“We traditionally pay special attention to cooperation with Iranian railways.
Russian Railways and Iranian Railways participate in the activities of many international
organisations on railway transport issues, including the Organisation for Cooperation
of Railways (OSJD) and the International Union of Railways (Union Internationale des
Chemins de Fer, UIC). We also hold similar positions on the development of the Eurasian
transport space,” said Oleg Belozerov.

During the meeting, the two men discussed development issues regarding the North-South
rail transport corridor linking the countries of Europe and the central regions of
Russia on the one hand and the countries of the Persian Gulf and South Asia on the
other, as well as how to create the most favourable conditions for the work of logistics
operators.

“Much has already been done in this direction. In the past year, RZD Logistics,
together with foreign partners, carried out a test shipment of containers from India
to Russia via Iran and Azerbaijan along the western route of the corridor,”
said Oleg Belozerov.

In total, in the nine months of 2017 to the end of September, the volume of freight
transported by rail along the North-South corridor increased by more than 21% and
exceeded 4.7 million tons. In the same period, the volume of container traffic rose
by a factor of 2.4 to more than 7,000 containers.

“I am sure that we could achieve even higher figures,” said Oleg Belozerov.
“We have very serious reserves which allow us to improve our joint work yet
further.”

Also discussed during the meeting was the implementation of the project to electrify
the Garsar-Ince Burun railway line in Iran and the supply of Russian equipment and
materials.

The corresponding agreements were signed in March 2017 by RZD International, a
subsidiary of Russian Railways, and the company Railways of the Islamic Republic of
Iran.

The President of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov and the Chairman of the Board
and President of the Joint-Stock Company Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Said Mohammadzadeh also signed a memorandum on strategic cooperation on the electrification
of railways in Moscow on 28 March 2016.